These are crazy days and nights.
I have a friend who, when I said I was considering a second child, gave me a dire warning:
“Two is HARD,” she said, coming from a place of sleep deprivation and honesty. “Really, really hard.”
I dismissed her a bit, laughing it off and taking it as a joke. But you [...]

Yesterday was a bad day, yo.
I didn’t get a shower and I freaked out because the baby slept too much (I know, someone, please give me a Valium), and the only clean underpants I had were those huge, stretchy ones that reach my ribcage and dude, I was not in the MOOD for those panties.
Can [...]

Been there, done that.
Just like riding a bicycle.
Deja vu all over again.
Everything old is new again.
***
I was cocky going in, that’s for sure. I’ve done this before, remember? I have a thriving three-year-old, whose current fascinations are choosing chapter books from the library and adding words she knows to a list we keep on the [...]

Shaggy and I spent an unusually contented two hours alone together Saturday evening, while Mr. C and The Poo went to Mass.
Normally we go to church, as well, but the boy had a string of bad days and even worse nights. He was finally asleep when it was time to leave for Saturday evening vigil, [...]

When The Poo was born, we received money from several of my in-laws and relatives.
Intended for her care and feeding as she grew, we put the cash into her own savings account and we haven’t touched that account since her birth.
The number on the statement is rather small, but we’ve thought of it as an [...]

Most of you know that I flunked my three-hour glucose test - and rather spectacularly, to quote the midwife - and the likely scenario is insulin for the remainder of my last trimester.
It makes sense - I had a mild case with The Poo, and I’ve felt so very, very crappy this time. I just [...]

I’m looking through catalogs, glossy pages filled with pretty objects and prettier people. The women are thin and shining, the men rugged and wry.
The kitchens are clean and white and laden with bright green Dutch ovens. I imagine perfectly done roasts and gourmet soups inside their smooth ceramic interiors. I can smell the aroma of [...]

I am so sorry, dear readers.
It is 4:30 a.m. and I have been awake or restlessly, lightly asleep since midnight. I cannot breathe. I cannot stop coughing. I ache from head to toe and I can only sleep on my left side.
I had two interviews scheduled for later today, with expert sources for two columns. [...]

Every four weeks, my liberal value system is tested when I visit my OB/GYN for my monthly prenatal appointment.
Women of every age and varying states of fertility sit on one side of the hushed, tasteful waiting room of this private practice. Older women, clearly in menopause, with short sleeves in the middle of February and [...]

Stuffing Christmas cards into envelopes last night, I came across a name I didn’t recognize.
“Who’s that?” I asked my husband, pointing.
“Oh, that’s so-and-so,” he replied.
Oh, I said, and nodded, continuing to stuff and peel, stuff and peel.
“It’s weird, we’ve haven’t been gone that long … ” Mr. C began.
“But it seems like we’ve been here [...]